Getting Old

[uptou]

Mind you,theres the other side of the coin,when you're so old that when you fart the odds on sh!tting yourself are very high.

Then you need some young pup to clean you up.

[qwertz]

Just turned 65, divorced once, widowed twice.

Survived a brain haemorrage and cancer.

Done a great deal in my life, most of which I don't regret.

Waiting for 2 more operations to patch up my crumbling body, still active and working and I love life.

Forget the aches and pains and minor aggravations, nobody lives for ever, don't waste one single day being down.

My greatest regret - the longer you live, the more people you lose.

[Naam]

Getting older.

Many of my friends died before me, I was older then them.

Died of cancer, overdose or just plain suicide.

My dog died because it was hit by a car.

Then my car was stolen and never found back.

Insurance company never paid back.

Had a GF in my home country and decided to buy a house (In my Name) GF left me and I end up with a 60.000 Euro debt which I am still try to pay off.

My father died of cancer, never had the opportunity to say goodby while he was still alive.

A dear friend of me jumped of a building, I saw it happening.Getting old

Sister of the wife of my brother is getting abused every day (In Malasia) , she phones me once a month.

Another friend jumped in front of a train, I was the only witness.

My company is involved in fraud and they ask me to sign a document that I do not know anything about it.

Getting old means I just am getting so much more aware....

Now that is a miserable old man. Anyone else have a sadder tale? With more angst please.

once my wife found a bottle of Black Label in the cupboard where i keep tons of electronic scrap

[jenniferjuniper]

Hey, we are living in a gerontocracy. What if Tina Turner and Cher stopped singing when they were 25? Look up the accomplishments in old age of a Milwaukee school teacher named Golda Mier, or of Gandhi, or Churchill after age 40...Ronald Reagan; Jimmy Carter after the White House; the list goes on and on.

The fat lady has not sung.

Yes she has, maybe you should turn the hearing aid on

[Marvo]

Found myself reading a thread the other day where a guy was asking for opinions on retiring early and getting a life. People were airing their views on how much cash you need to have stashed and how it should be invested before you're allowed to feel comfortable getting off of the treadmill in the west. It centered around how much you needed in Thailand to live on, monthly, in order to find that state of happiness.

I think where we score as we grow older is that we understand better what makes us "happy" and what will bring us contentment (those of us that is, with optimism and open-mindedness in our outlooks) and that doesn't always come down to having a shed load of cash.

Some posters had a handle on the value of life being life itself and that's where you find happiness, but the concensus among the "money movers" on that thread was that 60,000 BHT a month (in today's money) wasn't going to be enough and that the guy should keep working. Judgements implied that living on 60,000 bht a month wasn't an option , but if you keep working, and when you can draw 120,000 bht a month, then you'll be able to retire and be happy.

Now that made depressing reading.

[scotwumman]

The loss )of a sense of humour is the most regrettable thing that can happen to us oldies. As a cockeyed optimist I always thought oh the folk that owe me money, some of them didn't even have to ask, will come back to me when their ship comes in. All I can say to that is the ship must have been the titanic. Now in my early sixties my sense of humour has returned I can again laugh (at myself) laugh with others, not at them, and see the funny side of most things but the learning experience which can turn you bitter for a time is well worth the realisation that this won't happen to you again, you are no longer vulnerable to sob stories etc. and can start to live for yourself.

Agree with everything 'been there done that' has said, in my more tranquil moments anyway. Uptou's post has me laughing still and prompted me to post

[Jandajoy]

Not sure where I got this but thought I should share it with you all. If it has been posted before my apologies

The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day.

____

That is quite beautifull and I'd like your permission to email it to my recently widowed 80 year old father. THANK YOU,

geoff

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Geoff

Feel free to send it to your father if you like.

[Jandajoy]

Geoff

Feel free to send it to your father if you like.

Thanks, and believ you me it's good.